May 20, 2020

Gospel: John 16:12-15I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. When he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into the whole truth. For he will not speak of his own authority, but will speak what he hears, and he will tell you about the things which are to come. He will take what is mine and make it known to you;

in doing this, he will glorify me. All that the Father has is mine; for this reason, I told you that the Spirit will take what is mine, and make it known to you.

REFLECTION:It is fascinating to see how Paul uses something so familiar to the Athenians – their “altar to the unknown God” – and uses this in order to make a connection between something already known to them, and the message of the Good News. St. Thomas Aquinas once said that “truth has nothing to fear” and that no matter where it is found, “truth is from the Holy Spirit”. Already during the early days of the church, we see this principle at work in the method of prea­ching of St. Paul. He would take something already familiar to his listeners and then use this in order to gently introduce them to the truths of the faith. But then again, even Jesus employed this method of teaching; he would use stories that his listeners were somewhat familiar with, he would use examples drawn from their day to day lives and then use these to guide them towards arriving at moments of profound realization.